DB's Macarons: two for the price of one

Oh lá lá les macarons… This month the Daring Bakers transformed normal people into macaron-obsessed people! If you ask me I mush prefer macaron-obsessed people than normal people! I loooooooooooooove macarons!

Two for the price of one: Oreo and Rice pudding macarons!

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I usually do my macarons with cooked egg whites, but it’s always fun to try new recipes! I had a little trouble with this recipe provided, well, not the recipe exactly but the temperatures, I had to make some adjustments. My changes are in bold.

Oreo cookie or macaron?

I’ve always wanted to try making Oreo cookies macarons, so this was the perfect opportunity!

OREO MACARONS

• Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
• Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.) I’ve used 140 gr
• Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
• Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
• 20 Oreo cookies (without the cream)

OREO FILLING

• Filling of 20 Oreo cookies
• ¼ cup cream cheese

Mix and refrigerate until it’s time to use.

Very dunkable, like the real thing!

But then… since I had some rice pudding left, I had to try my hand on Rice pudding macarons too.

RICE PUDDING MACARONS

• Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
• Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
• Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
• Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Cinnamon shells

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C) I’ve started at 320ºF. Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl (time to add the grinded Oreos or the cinnamon). If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes (Baked mine for about 7 m). Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored. (I’ve lowered my temp to 300º F and let them for 4 minutes more).
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

RICE PUDDING FILLING

• 1 cup rice pudding
• 60 gr (2 oz) white chocolate

Blitz the rice pudding in the food processor until you have a cream. Melt the white chocolate and add to the rice pudding cream.

Bite me!

Once I start making macarons I just want to make more and more, but the thing is once I start eating them, I also just want to eat more and more. Is it just me?